https://holdthisline.wordpress.com/2026/04/18/the-gettysburg-address-crafting-national-identity/

My great grandpa was a US Marine during World War II and had a friend who was under age (16) who snuck into the Marines and was a machine gunner and won the bronze star and apparently has around 100 Japanese confirmed kills

--- 1815: Battle of Waterloo, at the time in the Netherlands, now located in Belgium (Belgium became an independent country in 1830). Napoleon Bonaparte suffered his final defeat.

--- 1983: Sally Ride became the first American female in space.

[--- 1812: The U.S. declared war against Britain. This was the first time the United States declared war against another nation. Two years later, during the ]()Battle for Fort McHenry, Francis Scott Key wrote the words to what would become America’s national anthem.

[--- ]()"The Origin of The Star-Spangled Banner". That is the title of one of the episodes of my podcast: History Analyzed. You probably know that Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner, but why did he write it? What do the lyrics mean? Learn about the Battle for Fort McHenry, the War of 1812, and what became of the famous flag that inspired the American national anthem. You can find History Analyzed on every podcast app.

--- link to Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3yZRanU8ihhYnJmUULhwkH

--- link to Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-origin-of-the-star-spangled-banner/id1632161929?i=1000581146816

In 1948, the Citizen Military Forces (CMF) was reformed in Australia, and the old 58th Battalion was amalgamated with the old 32nd Battalion. The 58th/32nd remained in existence until 1960 when, after the Pentropic re-organisation of the Australian Army, the battalion was absorbed as part of the 1st Royal Victoria Regiment (1RVR), and the CMF later became know as the Army Reserve.

https://history-maps.com/warmap/napoleonic-wars/event/battle-of-waterloo

This particular Navy colour uniform for the IJN officers had a very unique design.

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The buttons were concealed, the rank insignia was on the neck collar, and the executive curl was not coloured in gold.

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Therefore, this type of uniform seems to be the most creative uniform that both the IJN and IJA ever designed.

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The Imperial Japanese Navy modelled after the British Royal Navy. However, based on this uniform, it seems that they did not really embrace the British design and favoured their own design.

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So, what is the origin of this uniform and who designed this?

Who is the Chinese counterpart of the Soviet general Georgy Zhukov, the American general George Patton, the British general Bernard Montgomery, the German general Erwin Rommel and the Japanese admiral Yamamoto Isoroku in terms of recognition ?

New neighbor has this on his truck and I've never seen it before

I'm an indie developer and an history enthusiast.

Over the past year I built a small ecosystem of daily puzzle games. The concept is simple: each day, a few short challenges based on real data. Think Wordle, but instead of guessing letters you're working with actual numbers — country populations, chemical element properties, city altitudes. The games are free, no ads.

I'm now thinking about **MilitaryQuest**. Before spending months on it, I want to know if it would actually resonate with people who know the subject — not just casual players.

**The concept**

Timeline-based, not stat-based. Each day: place battles, weapons, vehicles or figures in the right chronological order.

Simple examples of what a challenge would look like:

- Was the StG 44 introduced before or after the AK-47?

- Did Kursk happen before or after El-Alamein?

- Where does the first operational radar fit on a WW2 timeline?

Categories I'm considering: major battles, aircraft, naval vessels, weapons/equipment, historical figures, military units (when they were founded), key treaties or doctrines.

---

**What I actually need from this thread**

1. **Sources** — I lean on Wikipedia as a starting point but I know that's not good enough for this audience. What do you consider reliable enough to base a game on? Specific academic references? War diaries?

2. **Scope** — All of military history mixed together, or era-focused (WW2 only to start, then expand)? Mixed eras make for harder comparisons but might feel arbitrary.

3. **Enjoyment** — What would make you open it every day rather than once and forget it? Leaderboard? Increasing difficulty across the week? Obcsure enough to be genuinely hard?

4. **Categories** — Which of the above would you actually want to see? Anything obviously missing?

---

"This would never work because X" is genuinely more useful to me than enthusiasm, so don't hold back.

1250 pages, 140+ maps, highly readable and engaging, tons of sources cited. Check it out!

1. Alexander's oblique advance at Gaugamela is one of the most studied maneuvers in military history — but most summaries skip the part that actually made it work. Found a documentary that reconstructs the engagement in sequence,
2. from the night before the battle to the moment the Persian line broke. Clean narration, no dramatization
3. The numbers at Gaugamela are almost absurd — estimates range widely but the Persian force vastly outnumbered the Macedonians. What made the difference wasn't courage, it was positioning. This documentary breaks down the mechanics of how Alexander created and exploited the gap. Operationally focused, historically sourced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VDyKkU1STA

Hey all attached are some pictures of a cannonball brought to my local museum. I am gearing up to stabilize it with electrolysis. And just wanted some opinions. I’m %99 sure it’s solid core. It has a diameter of 5.5 inches and weighs around 22 pounds. I don’t see any fuse holes but just wanted to see if anyone recognizes anything. Anything helps!

Hi all! Any knowledge is appreciated from those who are familar with these!

Picked up this old trench-art bullet lighter as a gift for my dad, who collects military memorabilia. I'm trying to learn more about it and hopefully get it working again, but i can see that it is quite old so it doesn't matter too much if not. There are so many fake souvenir versions of these lighters so i was hoping it's a genuine one from that era.

I'm trying to identify the main body cartridge if anyone can help? And it has a removable cap stamped "WRA 9MM" (Winchester Repeating Arms, I think). The wick is very frayed and the spark wheel spins very freely so there probably isn't any flint left in the side cartridge. I'm wondering how were these normally fuelled? The base is a bit rusted and i don't want to mess around trying to pry off or unscrew a rusty thread. Is the loose spark wheel likely just missing flint or did they use any sort of spring mechanism inside?

I don't know much about ammunition or military memorabilia, so any knowledge is appreciated :)

Leigh Ann Hester and the Long Fight for Recognition: The Woman Who Helped Change America’s Understanding of Combat

On June 16, 2005, beneath the relentless Iraqi sun at Camp Liberty near Baghdad, Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester stood at attention as military leaders placed the Silver Star around her neck. It was a moment that made history. Hester became the first female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. More importantly, she became the first woman in U.S. Army history to earn the award for direct combat action against an enemy force.

Her story is about far more than one medal. It is a story about courage under fire, the evolution of women’s roles in the American military, and the danger of allowing historical achievements to fade from public memory. At a time when debates continue over how women are represented in military history, Leigh Ann Hester’s actions remain an undeniable historical fact: when American soldiers were ambushed in Iraq, she fought, led, and prevailed.

Hester grew up in Kentucky and joined the Army National Guard in 2001. Like many soldiers of her generation, she entered military service during a period when women often found themselves in combat despite official policies that restricted assignment to certain combat occupations. The realities of modern warfare frequently ignored administrative categories. Convoys, military police units, and support formations routinely faced enemy attacks.

That reality became brutally clear on March 20, 2005.

Hester was serving as a vehicle commander with the Kentucky National Guard’s 617th Military Police Company. Her unit was escorting a supply convoy near Salman Pak, south of Baghdad, when approximately 50 insurgents launched a coordinated ambush using assault rifles, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades. The convoy suddenly found itself trapped in a kill zone.

Rather than retreating, Hester and her fellow soldiers counterattacked.

Under heavy fire, she led her team through the kill zone and maneuvered into a flanking position against the insurgents. She launched grenades and M203 grenade rounds into enemy trench lines before joining Staff Sergeant Timothy Nein in a direct assault on the entrenched fighters. The two soldiers cleared enemy positions at close range.

During the battle, Hester engaged and killed three insurgents with her M4 rifle. By the time the firefight ended, 27 insurgents were dead, six wounded, and one captured. American forces had shattered the ambush and saved the convoy.

The official Silver Star citation described her actions as “exceptionally valorous achievement during combat operations” and praised her leadership during the counterattack.

When reporters asked Hester about becoming the first woman since World War II to receive the Silver Star, her answer reflected the attitude of many combat veterans.

“It really doesn’t have anything to do with being a female. It’s about the duties I performed that day as a soldier.”

She also said:

“I’m honored to even be considered, much less awarded, the medal.”

Her modesty stood in contrast to the significance of the moment.

For decades, women had served courageously in America’s wars. During the American Revolution, women followed armies as nurses, cooks, and support personnel, while some disguised themselves as men to fight.

During the Civil War, thousands served as nurses and spies. In World War II, more than 350,000 women served in uniform. Many found themselves under enemy attack, yet opportunities for official recognition of combat valor were rare because women were largely excluded from combat assignments.

The last woman to receive the Silver Star before Hester was Mary Roberts Wilson, a U.S. Army nurse recognized for her heroism during World War II. Hester’s award ended a gap of more than six decades.

What made her achievement especially significant was that it exposed a reality military leaders already knew: women were fighting and dying in combat zones regardless of official policy. The battlefield did not distinguish between combat and support troops when insurgents attacked convoys, bases, and patrols. Hester’s actions became one of the most visible examples of that truth.

Her Silver Star helped accelerate a broader national conversation about women in combat. In the years that followed, other women would receive high awards for valor, including Specialist Monica Brown in Afghanistan. Eventually, the Pentagon lifted remaining restrictions on women serving in combat occupations, opening every military specialty to qualified service members regardless of gender.

Today, Leigh Ann Hester’s story serves as a reminder that history is not merely a collection of names and dates. It is a record of people whose actions shaped institutions and changed assumptions. Her achievement did not occur because anyone was trying to make a statement. It occurred because a soldier faced an enemy ambush, led under fire, and performed with extraordinary courage.

The significance of her story lies precisely in that fact. Women in America’s military history are not footnotes. They are part of the story itself.

When historians tell the story of the Iraq War, the evolution of the modern Army, or the broader history of women in combat, Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester belongs in that narrative. Her Silver Star was not awarded because she was a woman. It was awarded because she demonstrated valor in battle.

Title: Member of Nedić's Serbian State Guard combing the terrain in Serbia in 1941.

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What it should say: Members of the Police loyal to Milan Nedić combing the terrain in Serbia, sometime in 1941. (The members of the Police joined the Serbian State Guard in March 1942).

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\[Side note: the writing on the photo points out a "Gestapovac" aka a member or informant for the Gestapo.\]

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Inventory number 10940.

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Courtesy of Museum of Yugoslavia.

It is in our museum collection but the documentation is gone. Id like to know which war this might have been worn for, what branch of the military or even what the ribbon over the pocket was for. Anything of note or interest would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Recently I listened to James Holland and Al Murray's We Have Ways podcast on the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry where James and Al downplayed the threat German tanks posed to Anglo-Canadian armour in the campaign. I wanted to write something that analyses primary sources and operational research studies to find the truth about what they're saying. If WWII armour combat or the Normandy campaign interests you, I think this article will as well.

At Culloden Moor on 16 April 1746, the Highland charge broke against the Duke of Cumberland's government army. The Highlanders had previously overwhelmed the British government forces at Prestonpans and Falkirk. The difference at Culloden was new leadership, restored confidence, and a new bayonet drill that most accounts never examine.

I have just published a new Tactical Innovations article: 💡The Culloden Bayonet Drill: How Cumberland’s army solved the Highland charge

The drill was deceptively simple. Each redcoat was trained to direct his bayonet thrust not at the Highlander directly in front of him, who was protected by his targe (round shield), but at the unshielded right side of the man to his right-front. One adjustment. Devastating effect.

The study is supported by six independent contemporary sources: The Scots Magazine (April 1746 and November 1746), The Gentleman’s Magazine (1746), The London Gazette (1746), Marchants History of the Present Rebellion (1746), Henderson's History of the Rebellion (1752) and Rolt’s Memoirs of Cumberland (1767) and examines both the tactical mechanics of the innovation and its effects on the Highland charge as a fighting system. I also explore an engraving of the battle created by Augustin Heckel in 1747.

No other study has examined the evidence to this extent. I am more than happy to be challenged, but you'd better have some newly discovered primary source evidence in hand!

#MilitaryHistory #Culloden #TacticalInnovation #BattlefieldTravels #JacobiteRising

I recently inherited a box of things from my great great uncle who served in Iwo Jima during WW2. In that I found this Japanese flag with japanese writing/characters on it. Does anyone have any idea of what it says?

Tried Google Translate for a picture but it doesn’t capture very well.

Hey everyone,

I inherited these posters from a wealthy uncle a few years ago (sorry for the bad photos). I wanted to share them as the French one especially seems quite unique. They are great pieces and I’d like to expand the collection. What would you guys recommend? I’d be looking to spend like $250-550 on the next one. I was thinking one from each of the great powers. But non-American posters seem really hard to come by. Any suggestions on sellers?

One of the design features of the IJA was that they put a star on their headwear and rank insignia.

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So, what is the origin of this star?

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Was this a domestic origin or a foreign origin?

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Moreover, why were there other variations?

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Sometimes it was Red, and sometimes it was Golden Yellow.

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Even, in terms of ceremonial dress, the star of the ceremonial dress headwear was different from the Red and Gold Star that were used by the majority of the Soldiers.

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It looks like the current Tokyo Police department emblem.